HEART TROUBLE has put Seattle City Council member Nick Licata, a progressive stalwart, in the hospital twice since Dec. 1. The first incident occurred when Licata, 54, feeling ill, went to see his doctor. He fainted in the examination room, and the attending nurse determined his “heart rate had slowed down to 17 [beats per minute],” Licata recalls. Since the average person’s heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats a minute, and anything below 20 is life threatening, Licata was immediately hospitalized. After staying in the hospital overnight, the council member was given an “electrocardio-conversion” during which “they put two pads on your chest and shoot a few electrodes into you,” he says. “The heartbeat leveled out,” and he was released and resumed his usual workaholic lifestyle, flying to Atlanta, Ga., for a conference.
On Dec. 12, back in Seattle, Licata was once again hospitalized. This time, he says his heart rate “went down into the 40s.”
Licata says he has had a low heart rate—”in the 50s”—for years. To complicate matters, he also suffers from atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat caused by a malfunctioning of the upper chambers of the heart.
“He needs a pacemaker,” says UW professor Sue Woods, who specializes in cardiology. Woods, who is not Licata’s doctor, cautions she cannot really give a proper diagnosis without being familiar with his entire medical history; she agreed to answer some general questions based on information provided by Seattle Weekly. Woods explains that the normally functioning “heart has three pacemakers.” She says when Licata’s heart rate slowed to 17, it “was not compatible with life.” She continues, “He was in complete heart block”—none of the heart’s natural pacemakers was working properly. The installation of an artificial pacemaker takes about an hour and usually requires hospitalization for a day or two.
Licata, who is back at work and feeling fine, is planning to see a cardiologist but is not “expecting any changes.” Except, he quips, “I expect a lot of people to be a lot nicer to me now.”
George Howland Jr.
